The Fever
by LeapforLove
Summary: What am I?" I asked. I wasn't prepared for the answer."A vampire."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The fever was a fire-burning, consuming me. I couldn't think-I was past even the hallucinations that had plagued me in the beginning. The only thing I was aware of, other than the pain, were the hands that held me down to stop me from hurting myself, that brushed the hair away from my face when I moaned, that and nothing else had kept me from going under before, even that had no meaning now. I had lost. I gave up, gave in, sinking into the black void. I sighed there wasn't any more pain _no more fire_ my mind told me, relieved.

And then it was back. It was burning hotter than ever, a forest fire, burning everything in its path, sucking, draining the life out of everything. Scorching me, burning my extremities first, and then moving in closer to my chest… where my heart was trying frantically to outrun the flames. It was losing the race.

It felt like centuries-no, millennia- when the flames were extinguished, the only reminder of the fever a burning sensation in my throat. It wasn't very bad, just a dull ache-my mind was keeping tabs on it, like I usually kept tabs on breathing and my heart. Slowly I sat up, noticing the way everything was so much clearer-I could see things I wouldn't have dreamed of before. Shaking my head to clear my confused thoughts, I looked around. I wasn't at my own home. I was in a, a _morgue _I opened my mouth to scream, but was stopped by a smooth, white hand covering it. Clamping my mouth shut, I slowly turned around to face a blonde, tired looking man. The same blonde, tired looking man currently had his hand very rudely over my mouth.

Raising my hand, I peeled his fingers from over my lips. "Where am I, What am I, and who in the name of all that is holy are you?" I said coolly, staring straight at him. I was not pleased.

He smiled sadly, solemnly, and said "You, my dear, are in a morgue, as a vampire, and my name is Carlisle, Carlisle Cullen." After he finished this charming little confession, I quickly sat up, pulling my body off the cold metal gurney I had been laid on, presumably pronounced dead before I had got all the way to the hospital. I closed my eyes against the onslaught of memories that battered at my conscience, suddenly hyperaware that if what this Carlisle said was true, I couldn't ever be allowed to see my family again. Too dangerous, of course. I would kill them in a frenzy for blood and death. This took my train of thought in an entirely different, but related, direction.

"Why?" I asked "Why did you change me? Why not just let me die, another insignificant, puny human killed by the plague that has taken so many? One more casualty would not harm anyone, except me, and I daresay, my family." I said this all without looking at him, afraid that if I did, I would be angered even more than I already was, a burning anger that tainted my vision with scarlet.

As she was wheeled through the wide doors of the overflowing hospital in which I was currently working, I paused. She looked exactly as my daughter had, but my daughter had lived almost a hundred years ago, not impossible that she was still alive, but improbable. I tore myself back to the present and quickly took the young girl from the nurse who was taking her directly to the morgue. I could see the logic there, as we had no room, and she was nearly dead anyway. As we reached the morgue, not pausing, I sank my teeth deep into the soft tissue of her neck. Before I could taste any more of the blood than I already had, I quickly sealed the cut shut, and repeated the procedure with her wrists and ankles. I quickly moved her to a dark corner in the morgue, where I knew no one ever went. I sat there with her for four days, an incredibly long transformation. No vampire had I met whose transformation was that long, which was odd. However, that was a story for another time, as I could see her stirring, in my thoughts; I hadn't noticed that the frenzied beating of her dying heart had stopped. She blinked, stirred slowly, and sat up. As she looked around, not seeing me, she must have noticed she was in a morgue. She opened her mouth to scream. I quickly clamped my hand down over her mouth, praying she wouldn't cause a scene. The last thing I needed was someone asking why a doctor was sitting in the middle of the morgue, hushing a dead body, because that was not easy to explain.

She took my hand from her mouth, I, satisfied that she wasn't about to go screaming, loosened my grip. She turned to face me, and asked the simple questions first. I answered her, "You, my dear, are in a morgue, as a vampire, and my name is Carlisle, Carlisle Cullen." She jerked her body up off the gurney, her eyes narrowed, only a little, but enough to set me on edge, she was dangerous, and very, very strong.

"Why?" she asked "Why did you change me? Why not just let me die, another insignificant, puny human killed by the plague that has taken so many? One more casualty would not harm anyone, except me, and I daresay, my family."

I didn't have an answer. Why did I change her? Because she looked like my Sophia, who had lived almost a hundred years ago? I was sorry that I had damned her to an existence like this, truly sorry. I don't think I had need of the companionship-I had already changed Edward Anthony Mason.

Ooh, what will happen when Bella meets Edward? I guess you will have to wait and find out.

Read and Review people. Push the little button. You know you want to! 


	2. Chapter 2

The Fever-Chapter 2

I got up shakily, more from the realization that I was a monster than anything else. My head spun, and I felt nauseous. Well, I thought, feeling nauseous is probably a step up from being dead. Then again, in this form, I technically was dead so… ugh, I was giving myself a headache just thinking about it. I shook my head roughly, closing my eyes against everything. Some little irrational part of me, I guess, wanted me to think that if I didn't believe it, it wasn't true. The idea was laughable, and I chuckled, albeit grimly, despite myself. Carlisle raised his eyebrows at me, but said nothing. I just shook my head once.

He turned towards the door of the morgue, and beckoned for me to follow. I did so wordlessly, afraid that if I spoke, I would later regret what I said to him. I mulled over the situation as we walked, not paying any attention to the movement, except to note that, for once, I wasn't tripping over my own feet. I saw this with some surprise, for my mother used to say that I got that particular trait from my father. I choked on this last thought. Thinking about my family was just too hard. I would never do it again, I vowed.

As we made it out of the hospital and into the fresh air, I took a deep breath. I felt a faint burning, aching sensation in the back of my throat, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I smiled, however faintly. I was free! I could… Just then a thought occurred to me.

"Carlisle, how are you able to work in a hospital if you are a vampire? How is it that it is possible? Will you show me?"

I asked tentatively, afraid of the answer.

"Bella, we don't drink human blood, I have discovered that we can survive off animal blood just as well." He paused, and then continued, "Of course, if you find that you would rather not…restrain yourself, you are free to go your own way."

He seemed a little sad at this, but I didn't question why, I was too busy asking Carlisle "What do you mean by "we," Carlisle, Are there more of…us?" I stumbled a bit on the last word, scared to think about things like that, like me.

Carlisle sighed, running a hand through his hair. He opened his eyes, but didn't look at me.

"Yes Bella there are more of us, but not all of them have the same diet as we do. I have a… son, so to speak. His name is Edward. He is the only other one in this… coven; I guess you could call it. He may not seem very welcoming at first, but just give him time. He'll come around-I'm sure of it." Carlisle finished, and smiled tentatively at her. "Come on Bella, let's go home."

I sighed, and gratefully followed him through the door. Well, I thought, Time to meet the future sibling… or whatever he would be to me. Hopefully, at least he wouldn't be a total jerk to me.

That is the second chapter. What do you guys think? Also, what do you think of my penname? I really like it, and I think it suits me really well!


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